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It makes me feel kinda old, but I can remember a time when even the suggestion that marijuana should be legal anywhere, for any reason, would have gotten you screamed at. Most people wouldn't even consider its use for medical reasons. And this wasn't all that long ago!

Nowadays, the medical benefits of marijuana for cancer and pain treatment have been proven. I won't get into social issues here, but as of this month, marijuana is also legal for recreational use in eight states (including the entire West Coast, big surprise there), as well as for medical use in 20 other states and D.C. One result is that suddenly, producers of cannabis products are really going to need a lot of labels—and at Etiquette Systems we're standing by, ready to provide them.

The market for edible cannabis products is ripe for exploitation. There will surely be cannabis-infused brownies, cookies, granola, trail mix, cake, and for all we know, tacos popping up within the next few weeks… and guess what? They all need custom printed labels!

The Nevada legislature has been very strict about what the labels of medical marijuana edibles have to include, encoding the rules in state statutes as NAC453A.512. It's been less fastidious about labels for non-medical cannabis edibles, as the passage of the referendum legalizing recreational use seems to have surprised lawmakers, but the legislature has voted in a few emergency rules. You can take a look at the details here, but we'll run down the most important aspects of all of Nevada's cannabis edibles labeling laws for you.

First of all, the labels can't be attractive to children, so nothing too flashy or cartoony except maybe for your logo. Any such features on existing labels have to be covered up, especially for non-medical edibles. (Oh, BTW, did you know we make blackout and correction labels too?)

Several emergency requirements were added to existing Nevada marijuana laws on June 28, 2017 regarding cannabis edibles, specifically to keep dispensaries from selling:

Any products that contain any more than 10 milligrams of THC per dose or more than 100 milligrams of THC per package.

Any products that appear to be lollipops, ice cream, or are modeled after a brand of products marketed to children.

Any products that look like real or fictional characters or cartoons.

Any products that apply THC to candy or snack foods other than dried fruit, nuts or granola.

Any cookie or brownie products that are not in a sealed, opaque bag.

Any products that have images of cartoon characters, action figures, toys, balloons or mascots on the labeling.

Also as of June 28, the cannabis product label has to read: "THIS IS A MARIJUANA PRODUCT" in bold type, and also has to include "Keep out of reach of children" and an ingredients list.

Otherwise, you basically have to stick with the medical marijuana rules, which require you to print in at least 12-point font on the labels of all "marijuana-infused products" the following announcements and warnings:

(a) “Caution: When eaten or swallowed, the intoxicating effects of this drug may be delayed by 2 or more hours.”

(b) “This product may have intoxicating effects and may be habit forming.”

(c) “This product may be unlawful outside of the State of Nevada.”

(d) “There may be health risks associated with consumption of this product.”

(e) “This product contains or is infused with marijuana or active compounds of marijuana.”

(f) “Should not be used by women who are pregnant or breast feeding.”

(g) “For use only by the person named on the label of the dispensed product. Keep out of the reach of children.”

(h) “Products containing marijuana can impair concentration, coordination and judgment. Do not operate a vehicle or machinery under the influence of this drug.”

All of those are required -- no kidding! And on top of all that, for medical cannabis edibles the label has to include the business name; the medical marijuana establishment registration certificate number; the lot numbers of all marijuana used to create the product, the batch number of the product; the date and quantity dispensed, including the net weight in ounces and grams or by volume, as appropriate; the name and registry identification card number of the patient and, if applicable, the name of his or her designated caregiver; the name and address of the medical marijuana dispensary; the date on which the product was manufactured; if the product is perishable, a suggested use-by date; the total milligrams of active cannabinoids and terpinoids in the product, as provided by the independent testing laboratory that tested the product; a list of all ingredients and all major food allergens as identified in 21 U.S.C. §§ 343; and if a marijuana extract was added to the product, a disclosure of the type of extraction process and any solvent, gas or other chemical used in the extraction process, or any other compound added to the extract.

Whew! It's almost like the state is actively trying to discourage manufacturers from producing cannabis edibles. No worries, this is all likely to change once the serious tax dollars start rolling in!

Meanwhile, if you need a label producer for your new cannabis smoothies or cookies, shoot us an email or give us a call here at Etiquette Systems for a quote. Obviously, we're up on all the labeling requirements for Nevada… and we'll be happy to study up on the labeling requirements of your state if you're not in Nevada.

Fish is one of nature's finest foods, especially large ocean fish like tuna and swordfish. It's full of Omega-3 fatty acids, which are great for both the heart and the brain; plus, it's low in fat and cholesterol, high in protein, and has no carbs. What's not to love? Other seafood, like shrimp, lobster, crabs, and other crawlies are also great, plus they add much-needed iodine to your diet. While some people are allergic to seafoods, especially shellfish, it's otherwise among the world's healthiest food groups.

Healthy food deserves healthy custom printed labels, and you know where you can find the best in the business? Right here, that's where. Because seafood has to be kept cold or frozen, you need the best freezer labels you can get—labels that will never come loose and fall off if exposed to freezing cold, or the condensation and frost that can come with it. Freezer labels are one of our specialties here at Etiquette Systems. Unlike some fishy suppliers, we don't just resell label orders and send them to the Third World to be printed cheaply. We make our labels in-house on our own press—so you can count on the quality.

Seafood labels are more than just identifiers of the kind of product inside the package. We can provide expiration stickers for you to print yourself, as well as custom-printed health warning stickers for items like oysters, sourcing labels to tell you where the seafood comes from, labels that indicate whether it was farmed or wild-caught, and just as importantly, whether the fishery is sustainable. People will happily pay more for seafood from sustainable fisheries, and they do want to know. We can even print distinctive Marine Stewardship Council labels, certifying your products as sustainable.

With all that going for us, why go anywhere else for your seafood labels? Contact us for a quote, and we'll hook you up!

Last week, we took on a print job for a product that requires a lot of imagination—not only on the part of the creators, but also on the part of the users. It was a "sexy" project in more ways than one: not only was it memorable, it used sex to sell he product.

Now, you may be thinking, "That's not unusual in marketing these days," and you'd be right. Heaven knows we've seen sex used to sell everything from lipstick to motorcycles and muscle cars. But in this case, our labels were used to directly sell sex in the form of erotic stories—the kind chronicled in the pages of America's foremost letters-based magazine written by readers.

Yes, we actually got to print labels for Penthouse Variations—in this case, a combo-issue! This was a fun, straightforward print-run for a fun, straightforward product, and quite a few people are going to see our labels, though we'll remain unsung heroes. If you're not familiar with Penthouse Variations, it covers stories that go well beyond so-called "vanilla" adventures.

Oh, and speaking of vanilla, this isn't the first time we've printed slightly naughty labels. There was this one brand of ice cream with suggestive flavor names, along with, ahem, instructive illustrations under the lid! But that was years past and another blog ago.

Just goes to show that we don't judge. Whatever your product, from erotica to popsicles, we're here to help with your labels, in any "variations" you require.

Labels: An Often Overlooked Productivity App

Recently my car began overheating, so I cast around looking for an automotive store where I could find some antifreeze/coolant that would, hopefully, rectify the problem. I was half a city away from home, and the whole time I was thinking, Even if I do get antifreeze, where am I going to get the water I'll need to dilute it? Most service stations don't even give you free water anymore. I found a store—and the second I hit the automotive aisle, I was saved by a label that proclaimed: 50% coolant/50% water mix. Exactly what I needed! The price was reasonable, and within fifteen minutes I was back in business with a much cooler car, sanity and productivity preserved for one more day.

More Helpful Than You Think

In this era of Evernote, DropBox, and CrashPlan, it seems that the only productivity applications we hear about anymore are software-based. And sure, that makes a lot of sense, given the incredible cheapness of storage memory, and the jaw-dropping speed at which cloud computing is taking over the developed world. (Post-human fans, rejoice—we may be closer to the Singularity than you think!) But even with all the new wireless technologies, there are many down-to-earth activities that, while still influenced and advanced by technology, aren't as "sexy" as the infotech revolution. (Cooling off cars isn't really sexy, is it, though I suppose it could be with the right model.) Some of the relevant technology quite literally helps define our lives, maximizing our use of time and resources without us really thinking about it. Consider, for example, the humble label...and I'm not talking about the mental kind, where you call your boss a "jerk" or your wife a "sweetheart" (and hopefully not vice-versa). I'm talking about the adhesive kind you peel off a backing and stick on things, not the kind you stick on people. Well...I suppose you could stick an adhesive label on a person if they would stand for it, but you know how people are. While you and I might like to put a label that says "Warning: Explosive When Agitated" on the guy next door, he might not find that so amusing.

Sticking to the Point

In a modern rat race where every second counts, labels save you time, and as some genius somewhere has certainly proved mathematically by now, Time = Money. The more productive you can be with your time (which, after all, we each have a fixed amount of), the better the bottom line—and the less overtime and stress you have to deal with. Whether you work for a manufacturer that has to label 20,000 bottles of tartar sauce daily or just want to be able to find your favorite brand in a split second, labels save you time and effort. One way labels that also save Modern Humanity oodles of time is via bar coding. With a clever combination of laser readers, computer technology, and printing, we can use bar codes to quickly and easily: Check out at the grocery stand (even by ourselves) Identify products and prices in seconds Track inventory and assets in a warehouse Speed up mail processing Identify books Ship items by airplane, boat, or train Access records (for example, in medical situation)

The Converting Life

Companies that create and print custom labels are known as label converters, since they convert existing materials created by other companies—paper, synthetics, metal foil, adhesive, ink, and liners—into completely new products. It may sound easy, but it isn't. Not only does it require fantastically complex equipment, but color-matching and pouring the right inks, setting the formats, curing the inks, and precisely cutting the labels all require a great deal of precision. And then there's mixing and matching the materials to fit the conditions. Moisture conditions, temperature extremes, rough handling, abrasion, chemical exposure, and much more all have to be taken into consideration. Laboratory labels, for example, need to be able to stick in a variety of conditions, and often have to resist chemical corrosion. Luckily, a skilled crew and large batches drives the cost-per-unit down, especially when we can print a larger number of labels per unit area. Big labels cost more than small ones, in other words, and the more labels you need, the cheaper they are.

The Business of Labeling

Imagine going to a store where the products had no labels. Besides the produce, you'd probably have a hard time finding what you need (and even then, could you really tell a jicama from a tomatillo?). Sure, you can recognize ground meat, but is it pork? Beef? Woodchuck? What's the fat content—10%, 20%, 40%? Remember the generic products in the stores briefly back in the early '80s, the ones with plain white labels that just said "BEER" or "PEANUT BUTTER" in big black letters? Boring, weren't they? There's a reason that experiment failed. See, people want attractive labels and packaging that not only tells them what they're buying but also to signal their favorite brands—items they know at a glance they'll like. The imagery also needs to make the product inside obvious, to cut down on shopping time and, yes, to maximize the shopper's productivity. Most of us would rather go to the park or hang with our buddies than spend more time shopping than absolutely necessary For product manufacturers, labels have to be vibrant and interesting enough to grab the buyer's attention. Today's market shelves are crowded with more items than ever before. Plain, drab, and humdrum labels—even the wholesomely informative—just won't cut it.

Endlessly Useful

The next time you notice a label, consider all the materials and thought that went into making it. Label makers, especially label converters, constantly implement new technology to make their art more accurate, cost-effective, and useful. And useful it is. In fact, labels—whether for products, inventory/asset management, or lab use—represent a small but significant aspect of the infrastructure of modern life. If they all disappeared suddenly, we'd face more than a little chaos. Think about that. Have you hugged your label maker lately? BIO: Etiquette Systems is a privately owned-and-operated printing/converting company specializing in the production of custom adhesive labels. We supply labels for a multitude of different industry groups, with a majority of our product made-to-order. Check us out at https://etiquettesystems.com/company/ouradvantage/. Have questions? Send 'em to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..